In 2023, longtime Southampton fixture Bill Manger defeated incumbent mayor of Southampton Jesse Warren, snagging 58 percent of the vote. Manger campaigned under the banner “Better Together” and tells Avenue why Southampton is so improved since he took office.
Southampton mayor William Manger (photograph by Sean Zanni)
Mayor of Southampton must keep you busy.
The busiest is trying to make improvements to the village infrastructure, as well as trying to continue to implement recommendations of the comprehensive plan that was completed for the village two years ago.
What was that plan?
[It was] something that the village undertook after not having updated its master plan in 20 years: to look at zoning, having more bicycle–pedestrian access in the village. It’s trying to give a roadmap for the village for the next 10 to 15 years.
You grew up coming out here. Did you think: one day I’m going to be the mayor of Southampton?
I did not think I was going to be the mayor. I got interested in local politics in 1997 when I ran for trustee and was elected to the village board. I served two terms before I decided to work for the federal government. I worked for [them] for 10 years, which is quite a lot, both at the Department of Transportation and at the Small Business Administration. I ended up being number two at the agency during the Paycheck Protection Program, which, during Covid, gave out billions of dollars to small businesses and not-for-profits to keep them alive during the pandemic.
When did you decide to run for mayor of Southampton?
I started working for the federal government in 2001, then worked in New York at a boutique investment bank doing consulting, then went to the Small Business Administration. I came back to Southampton and ran for trustee and was elected in 2022. When the mayor’s position came up in 2023, I decided to run and was lucky enough to get elected. I’ve been in for one year and it’s a two-year term. The election isn’t up again until June of 2025.
And you’ll run again for reelection?
I would like to continue to make improvements to the village. It will take more than one year. I would like to stay and get as much done as I can.
What’s been the biggest challenge since you started?
Everybody wants to talk to the mayor – lots of opinions and issues need to be addressed. It really is a full-time job. There’s a lot of infrastructure projects that were just not taken care of. For example, we’re spending a lot of money from the capital budget to put a new roof on the Veterans Hall and a new roof on the Southampton Arts Center (SAC), which was the old Parrish Art Museum.
I didn’t know it needed a new roof.
It hadn’t been touched in years. It’s sad. If you go to the Arts Center during a heavy rain, they put buckets out in the galleries -the roof is leaking. I said “This has to stop. We’re spending half-a-million dollars to put a new roof. We’re getting slate brought in from Vermont so that the roof looks as it has historically when it was the Parrish Art Museum. We’re hoping that’ll be done in the fall so we won’t have the staff at SAC pull buckets out when it’s raining.
Easthampton had major drama with Zero Bond wanting to open. Have you faced that in Southampton with nightlife?
No. We have some institutions in the village that create a bit of noise and can be a nuisance to neighbors, especially when close to residents’ homes. We’ve been working to mitigate those issues. Thankfully, Memorial Day weekend was quite calm.
Growing up in Southampton, we’ve both seen so much change for the better and the worse.
One thing for the better is improvements to some of the structures in the village. Downtown looks pretty good. The downside is the village is a victim of its own success, and we have an inordinate amount of traffic during the week what’s known as the ‘Trade Parade’ where they’re coming east in the morning and going west in the afternoon.
The population swelled during Covid. More people mean more cars.
The census in the middle of Covid showed that there were about 4,500 residents in the village. That was an upswing from the 2010 census. But I would say in the last year some of those people have moved elsewhere. Many moved down to Florida for tax reasons, and some moved back to the city. Though it has grown, we’re not at the levels we were at during the peak of the pandemic.
Any news about the movie theater? I know Aby Rosen bought it. Please tell me it’s not going to become a shopping mall.
I’ve spoken on the phone with Aby and he says he is going to be able to open the movie theater and show films again by 2025.
What a relief! I hope he plays Jaws every July.
He’s getting additional equipment and doing more work to the building. He’s changed out all the seats. One of the theaters is going to be an IMAX. He wants to have not only first-run films, but independent films. I’ve heard he wants to have some live performances and he’s looking to open a cafe next door.
I am not against change, but I am loyal to Southampton stalwarts, like Shippy’s.
Shippy’s reopened last year under a new manager. Locals enjoy it just as much as anybody else does, and that’s been a great asset to Windmill Lane.
Is it a challenge for places like Shippy’s or my personal favorite, Sip’n Soda, to stay in business and compete with fancy places from the city, like Sant Ambroeus?
Everybody still loves Sip’n Soda, that’s been an institution since 1958. It’s still difficult to get a table there on weekends. You run into a lot of people. It’s a longstanding village institution, just like Hildreth’s which is the oldest continually operated department store in the United States.
I didn’t know that. I still think Southampton has the best beaches on the East Coast.
We got awarded by Dr. Steven Leatherman, who is known as “Dr. Beach,” as having the best beach in the continental United States. The number one beach in the United States is on Oahu in Hawaii. But we got the number one beach in the continental United States. We were very pleased to see that Main Beach in East Hampton came in sixth. If you haven’t been to Cooper’s Beach recently, check it out. The concession stand is now managed by the owner of Shippy’s. You can order a “mash burger,” which is a huge hit at Shippy’s.
There must be competition between Southampton and Easthampton. Easthampton is like Rodeo Drive now with Chanel, Prada, and Louis Vuitton.
We don’t compete. We’ve got something that’s unique here – the fact that we’re that much closer to the city and don’t have to deal with the highway from Southampton to Easthampton, which can be bumper-to-bumper on weekends. A lot of people have told me they’re glad that we don’t have Prada and Chanel. They like the mix we have. We have Sant Ambroeus and people have told me that the Sant Ambroeus in Southampton is better than the Sant Ambroeus in Easthampton.
What spots get the mayoral stamp of approval?
I’d probably have to start with Sip’ n Soda because I’ve been going there since I was born. Catena’s on North Main Street to get the fried chicken – that’s been a staple since I was a kid. As much as things have changed, things have stayed the same.
Your office is right on Main Street. People must stop you on the sidewalk and ask for favors daily.
I sometimes get that when I go to the post office. But what is nice is sometimes, even just when I’m running in to get something at the drugstore, which is now CVS, people say hello to me in the parking lot. “Hi Mayor, how you doing?” It makes you think the place is a little bit like Mayberry.
You got to march in the Fourth of July parade.
Yes! Here’s an interesting little tidbit: it’s the largest parade on Long Island for the Fourth of July. We have people come from all over. The parade is always led off by the veterans, but the next group that gets to march is the Southampton Village Board of Trustees. So, I’m marching right there in the center.
Do you have any memories of the parade as a kid? They used to throw candy and I was obsessed with that.
They still do that, but it’s not as much as when we were kids. My siblings and I would sit on the curb right outside where the store Shep Miller was and watch the parade turn from Main Street to Job’s Lane. My family still stands on that corner to watch the parade. My family first started coming out to Southampton in the 1950sthat was a long time ago. My father first summered here the summer that Sip’n Soda opened in 1958.
Are you out of the office a lot or stuck behind a desk buried with paperwork?
No day is typical. Last week I had the second-grade class from Southampton Elementary School who wanted to study local government and how they can affect change at the local government level. All the kids came in to do a little mock meeting in the boardroom. They loved getting up and speaking at the mic.
Is summer the busiest time for you as mayor?
Summer is busy because of the number of people that are here. Thanksgiving gets very busy. We have the tree lighting and a parade on the Saturday after Thanksgiving that has become massive. It’s almost as big as the Fourth of July parade. This past year we had participants from the fire departments of nine jurisdictions from Riverhead to Montauk, and they all came for the tree lighting.
Tell us some things to do in the village people might not know about.
You can go to the Southampton Fire Department chicken and ribs dinner on Windmill Lane. Or go to Shakespeare in Agawam Park. We’ve got concerts every Wednesday in Agawam Park and we do two nights where the concerts are moved to Cooper’s Beach. We set up the bands at Coopers and the beach is absolutely packed. And we now regularly see whales and dolphins off the beach in Southampton.
I’ve never seen a whale in Southampton or even in Montauk for that matter.
The ocean has cleaned up since the 1970s. There are now huge schools of minnows that attract whales. You can see whales blowing off the coast and pods of dolphins swimming together. It’s amazing. Sometimes you see them breach. I never saw that as a kid and now you see it quite regularly. – PETER DAVIS
